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Republicans are accusing Joe Biden of taking nearly 14 hours to tell Congress about the strike by Iran proxies that killed an American contractor and injured US troops.
The GOP sources, speaking to NBC News, believe the president waited to alert them to the strike – which he authorized a retaliation for – to push through amendments to a proposed repeal of the AUMF bill which allows him to authorize military force.
The drone attack took place at around 6:38 a.m. ET on Thursday. Congress did not learn about it until about 8 p.m. that evening, the insiders claimed.
Republicans said they believe the Biden administration wanted to let the Senate vote on amendments including ones that would affect the president’s ability to authorize force on Iran.
One of the amendments the sources cited was proposed by Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, which many believe won’t get a vote.
It would keep the president’s ability to ‘respond rapidly and decisively to threats by the Government of Iran or its proxy forces.’
Republicans are accusing President Joe Biden of taking nearly 14 hours to tell Congress about the strike by Iran proxies that killed an American contractor and injured servicemen
They also pointed out that Central Commander General Michael ‘Erik’ Kurilla spoke before the House of Representatives Thursday with knowledge of the strike but did not mention it during testimony.
‘Prior to his posture testimony, General Kurilla was aware of the facts… It would have been inappropriate for him to mention the attack during the hearing given that the Families of the killed and wounded had not yet been notified,’ a CENTCOM spokesperson said in a statement.
National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby had said he believed Kurilla’s testimony came before the attack, which no longer lines up with the timeline or CENTCOM’s statement.
Aides to both a Republican and a Democrat in favor of repealing AUMF said it was unlikely the delay had anything to do with the bill, however.
‘Biden responded under the authorities provided to him by Article II of the Constitution, as the Administration publicly has taken action against Iranian aggression numerous times in Syria alone over the last year,’ the aides tell NBC News.
‘This only further underscores our point that the 1991/2002 AUMFs are not necessary to defend our personnel in the region against such threats,’ the aides added.’
Iranian militants launched another attack on US forces in Syria after President Joe Biden ordered US forces to strike back in a tit-for-tat battle in the Middle East.
Speaking in Canada, President Biden issued his first comments Friday on the U.S. air strike in Syria in retaliation to a drone attack on a coalition base that left an American contractor dead and wounded six other Americans, including five servicemembers – saying the country was prepared to act ‘forcefully’ to protect its people.
The GOP aides suggested that Biden delayed so that amendments to a bill repealing the AUMF could go through, including one pushed by Senator Dan Sullivan
Aides to both a Republican and a Democrat in favor of repealing AUMF said it was unlikely the delay in announcing the strike had anything to do with the bill, however
His remarks, at the top of a joint press conference in Ottawa with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, came after the Pentagon launched an investigation of the drone attack and an air defense system that failed to stop the drone, which crashed into the facility.
And it came amid nearly simultaneous reports that forces linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps had launched additional attacks targeting U.S. forces Friday, with one attack carried out with a rocket and the other with multiple drones. The number of casualties from the latest round of attacks has not been disclosed.
‘Make no mistake, the United States does not – does not, emphasize – seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people,’ Biden said Friday.
‘That’s exactly what happened last night. We’re going to continue to keep up our efforts to counter terrorist threats in the region and partnerships with Canada and other members of the coalition to defeat ISIS,’ he said.
Biden referenced the ‘several American casualties,’ and said: ‘One of our citizens tragically died that attack.’
President Joe Biden offered condolences for the American contractor killed in Syria and said the U.S. ‘does not seek conflict with Iran,’ after ordering an attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed sites
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Gen. Pat Ryder, appearing shortly after Biden spoke, said the Defense Department was ‘assessing’ the reports of a new rocket attack targeting American forces near gas fields in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria.
According to multiple reports, the conflict escalated Friday when two separate attacks were carried out by Iranian proxy forces against two US military bases, injuring multiple servicemembers. Multiple Iranian drones were used in one of the attacks, an official told Fox News, and the other was a rocket attack.
Biden also provided new details about his decision to order military action, amid a series of attacks and counter attacks that have raised fears of an escalating conflict. He said he gave the order aboard Air Force One.
‘On the flight up yesterday, I spoke to our national security team and ordered an immediate response that last night, US military forces carried out a series of crash targets in Syria targeting those responsible for protecting our personnel. My heart and deepest condolences go out to the family of the American we lost and wish the speedy recovery for those who are wounded,’ he said.
The president said he was ‘grateful for the professionals in our service members who so ably carried out this response’.
CNN reported Friday that the latest attack by Iranian-backed proxies, near Conoco oil fields, resulted in the injury of a U.S. servicemember who is now in ‘stable’ condition, according to a U.S. official familiar with the situation. Another attack at the Green Village in Eastern Syria involving three Unmanned Aerial Vehicles did not result in injuries.
Air Force Gen. Pat Ryder addressed that attack in a press briefing. ‘This morning, Iranian-backed groups launched 10 rockets that targeted coalition forces at the Green Village in northeast Syria. The attack resulted in no injuries to U.S. or coalition personnel and no damage to U.S. equipment or facilities,’ Ryder said.
‘Our current assessment is that this these rocket attacks were conducted by IRGC-affiliated groups, that this rocket attack was done in an effort to retaliate for last night’s attacks,’ he said. ‘Again, they did not cause any damage at the coalition facility. As far as any type of future action, I’m not going to talk about or preview potential future operations other than to say we will always reserve the right to respond appropriately if our forces are threatened.’
The Iranian-made drone that killed an American contractor and injured five U.S. servicemembers never fired a missile at the U.S. facility where the attack occurred, crashing into the facility, the Pentagon said Friday.
The drone was ‘of Iranian origin,’ Ryder told reporters, citing forensics and intelligence analysis, as new information was still coming in about the attack on the facility and the U.S. ‘precision strikes’ that followed.
‘It did not fire a weapon to my knowledge,’ he said when asked whether the drone was able to fire a weapon at the facility or if it had crashed.
His comments follow a report in the New York Times that the main air defense system on the base was not ‘fully operational’ at the time of the attack.
Biden spoke during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amid reports of an other counterattack by militants the Pentagon says are backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters that an Iranian-made drone crashed into a U.S. facility in Syria, killing a U.S. contractor and injuring five U.S. service members
‘My understanding is that there was a complete sight picture in terms of radar,’ Ryder said. He said U.S. Central Command would be undertaking a review to ‘take a look at what if any other type of mitigating actions need to be taken.’
‘This is a dangerous part of the world. The work that we do is inherently dangerous. That’s why you have the military and these types of places that mean these types of operations. We’ve seen rocket attacks or attacks in the past for these kinds of groups.
Ryder repeatedly pointed to groups backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as being behind the attack.
‘The fact is that these IRGC back groups conducted this attack and unfortunately, we had an American killed,’ Ryder said.
Ryder would not respond directly when asked why there may not have been a contingency to shoot down the drone.
‘We take a variety of measures to safeguard our people. But again, it’s an inherently dangerous place. And we’ll get we’ll look into the details of that,’ Ryder said.
He also underlined what the White House said earlier Friday, amid fears of escalation against a major power in the region.
‘We don’t see conflict or war with Iran. Our focus in Syria is on the enduring defeat of ISIS,’ he said.
That came after the White House said Friday that the U.S. is not seeking a conflict with Iran after President Joe Biden launched a retaliatory air strike over an American contractor killed in Syria by a drone strike. Activists said the U.S. bombing killed at least four people.
A suspected Iran-made suicide drone killed a contractor and injured five U.S. servicemembers on Thursday at a maintenance facility on a coalition base near al-Hasakah in northeast Syria.
Biden responded by deploying ‘precision airstrikes’ against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing 11 pro-Iranian fighters. The Iranian-backed fighters responded by shooting off three rockets Friday morning.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday morning, ‘We don’t seek a war with Iran. We’re not looking for an armed conflict with that country or another war in the region’
According to an American defense official, the U.S. counterstrikes were conducted by F-15 fighter jets flying out of al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
The U.S. F-15s struck three locations, all in the vicinity of Deir el-Zour, said a U.S. official.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby appeared on the U.S. morning shows Friday and was asked on CNN if the U.S. could consider the recent attacks an ‘act of war.’
‘We don’t seek a war with Iran. We’re not looking for an armed conflict with that country or another war in the region,’ Kirby said.
‘We do seek to protect our mission in Syria, which is about defeating ISIS, and we do seek to protect our people in our facilities against these Iran-backed groups,’ Kirby added.
He couldn’t give details about the identity of the U.S. contractor besides confirming that he was an American citizen.
‘We’re trying to give the family some time and space here to grieve,’ Kirby explained.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Kirby said it was clear the Iran-backed group resented the U.S. presence in the region.
‘They don’t want to see the United States’ presence in Iraq, they don’t want to see it in Syria and they’re retaliating, they’re acting out to limit our ability to go after ISIS in both those countries and to try and force our hand to leave,’ Kirby said.
He also said that the three rocket strikes launched at the US base at the Al-Omar oil field didn’t do any damage.
‘It is not uncommon when we take a retaliatory strike like this for them to answer right back with some ineffective rocket fire and these were largely, completely ineffective,’ Kirby said. ‘Nobody was hurt, no U.S. casualties at all.’
‘It was sort of an instinctual reaction that get from these militant groups whenever we do this kind of thing,’ he continued. ‘But that said, we obviously are going to stay vigilant for any other responses from Iran or from their militant groups in Syria, in Iraq.’
U.S. Army Gen. Michael ‘Erik’ Kurilla, the head of the American military’s Central Command, warned that its forces could carry out additional strikes if needed. ‘We will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing.’
President Joe Biden (pictured) ordered the retaliation strike on a munition warehouse, a control building and an intelligence-collection site
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III said he authorized the retaliatory strikes at the direction of President Joe Biden
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